The conclusion sounds like he wasn't listening to a word Eric was saying.
Ben, I can certainly understand why you would say that. Please let me clarify the statements in my conclusion.
First, the entire purpose of my conversation with Eric was to determine if the raw data from my Canon DSLRs is being modified when converting to DNG. It just took me a long time to get around to specifically asking that.
From Eric's responses, my current understanding is that with "mainstream" DSLRs like those from Canon and Nikon, the scene-referred raw data should NOT be getting modified when it's going into the DNG. In other words, the raw data in the DNG is the same as the raw data in the original CR2. But with other cameras, this will certainly not always be the case.
If after reading Eric's responses you came to a different conclusion please help me better understand. DNG is not nearly as straightforward as I thought it was.
Thanks!